Yellowstone

At one point, we got hailed on.

It was a beautiful drive.

We paralleled the Snake River for a bit.

These rafts reminded Glen of the rafting trip he took with Deb and Keith in 1985.

The Grand Tetons.

Alan wanted a picture of this bear at one of our rest stops near the south entrance to Yellowstone.

Entering Yellowstone from the south, we could see plain evidence of the wildfires of several years ago.

One of three passes over the Continental Divide on the east-bound trip.

A large herd of deer were out in the evening as we drove towards West Yellowstone.

Our first bison-jam.

And here's the bison causing all the fuss.

We camped at the KOA of West Yellowstone.

A herd of horses grazed next to the campground.

A bald eagle nest was near the road, so rangers were on the spot to keep traffic moving slowly and quietly past, rather than stopping and disturbing the nesting birds.

The Firehole River

A wedge of rock diverts the flow.

Jenny tests the temperature of the Firehole River. It wasn't freezing cold, but definitely not hot either.

The crowd waiting for Old Faithful.

And here it goes!

After viewing Old Faithful, we chose a couple of geyser basin trails to hike around, beginning with Biscuit Basin.

Jewel Geyser goes off approximately every 7 minutes.

Mustard Spring.

The wild flowers were fantastic.

The Firehole River is just visible behind the bit of steam.

Then on to another hike, this time the Midway Geyser Basin.

How the Firehole River got its name, from this kind of tributary.

Excelsior Geyser is impressive.

The water, while hot, must not be too hot for the bison. Look for the hoof prints and the poop.

Then we drove north to the mud pots. This is a view from the top of the trail. In the distance you can see the parking lot.

This is one of the small geysers in this area.

And here are the mudpots, splattering away.

The trail passes through this regenerating forest. Wildfire burned quite a lot of Yellowstone several years ago.

One of the park's trackable deer posed right by the roadside.

Gibbon River Falls.

The Mammoth Springs are mostly dry now. This is the Minerva formation which I remember as being beautifully wet and glistening in 1985. Perhaps the fires changed the drainage and affected the water supply.

Cedar Spring is still flowing in places.

This wet section gives an idea of what the whole place looked like 20 years ago.

The boys enjoyed burning off a bit of energy.

At high elevation in the northeast corner of the park, snow is still present by the side of the road.

The Falls of the Yellowstone River.

This time a whole herd of bison completely stopped traffic for 20-30 minutes.

But the baby bison were cute.

We mostly skipped the lake, but caught this view of it at dusk with the moon out.

Another slowdown -- roadwork on the east side of the park. We had to go this way to get to Cody and our reserved cabin.